“The Enemy of Mankind”

This chapter analyzes the nature of the scientific discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus and preventative work against the epidemic through the lens of one of Robert Koch’s associates and friends, Kitasato Shibasaburō. Kitasato, a Japanese scientist and government employee, worked with Koch at the behest of the Japanese government, an organization with which he frequently clashed. Due to his personal foibles and recurrent arguments with politicians and other scientists in Japan, Kitasato’s work on tuberculosis, despite being groundbreaking, was often overlooked in his homeland. Thus, Kitasato’s personal problems, this chapter surmises, may have cost Japan proper tuberculosis prevention undertaken successfully in other countries.